Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning or processing the substrate and/or the various material layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon and form integrated circuits. Dozens or hundreds of integrated circuits are typically manufactured on a single semiconductor wafer. The individual dies are singulated by sawing the integrated circuits along a scribe line. The individual dies are then packaged separately, in multi-chip modules, or in other types of packaging, for example.
Generally, a semiconductor die may be connected to other devices external to the semiconductor die through a type of packaging utilizing external connections. The external connections may be formed by initially forming a layer of underbump metallization in electrical connection with a contact pad on the semiconductor die and then placing additional conductive material onto the underbump metallization. In between the underbump metallization and the contact pad may be a passivation layer that is used to protect and support the structures of the semiconductor die. Once in place, the additional conductive material may be placed in physical contact with the external device and then the semiconductor device may be bonded to the external device. In such a fashion, a physical and electrical connection may be made between the semiconductor die and an external device, such as a printed circuit board, another semiconductor die, or the like.
Although existing devices and methods for forming external connections have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects. Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a solution for forming the external connections for use in a wafer process apparatus.